Fully rested, Tom Glavine had the St. Louis
Cardinals right where he wanted them.
Unless the Mets can rally, he'll have all winter to rest.
The Mets gave Glavine an early two-run lead after he extended his
scoreless streak to 16 innings in the post-season.
And then, all so quickly, it all came undone, and New York moved
within a loss of elimination with a 4-2 defeat Tuesday night in Game
5 of the NL championship series.
St. Louis headed to New York ahead 3-2 in the best-of-seven
series and faces John Maine in Game 6 Wednesday night and TBA in
Game 7 _ if it even gets that far. After piecing together a win
behind Oliver Perez in Game 5, the Mets couldn't get a victory
behind their ace.
Glavine, a 10-time All-Star and 290-game winner, had been
prepared to pitch on three days' rest Monday night before rain
pushed the game back a day.
``As much a big deal as we make about numbers in this game, my
numbers certainly aren't great on short rest, so psychologically,
maybe all those things are good,'' the 40-year-old lefty had said.
Seeking to tie former Atlanta teammate John Smoltz for the
post-season wins record at 15, he was given a lead when Jose
Valentin doubled off the left-field line in the fourth, driving in
two runs.
Glavine started with three scoreless innings but allowed Albert
Pujols' first homer of the series on a fat 2-2 pitch with one out in
the bottom of the fourth.
Glavine got himself into more trouble with a two-out, four-pitch
walk to Scott Rolen. He fell behind Jim Edmonds 3-1, gave up a
single and Ronnie Belliard poked the next pitch into right for a
tying single.
Eventually, Glavine got out of a bases-loaded jam when pitcher
Jeff Weaver hit into a forceout, but David Eckstein blooped a single
on the first pitch of the fifth and ex-Met Preston Wilson doubled
two pitches later to put St. Louis ahead 3-2.
That was pretty much it. The Mets left him in to intentionally
walk Pujols, then took him out.
There's no Pedro Martinez. There's no Orlando Hernandez.
For Glavine, the only chance to get back to the World Series this
year is if the rest of the Mets cobble together wins. Perhaps if
there's a Game 7, he'll pitch in relief.
